


An Unexpected Injury

by TheCreatorOfTales



Series: The Governor's Family [3]
Category: Wentworth (TV)
Genre: Cara is a clever thing, Charlie and Tasha are feral, F/F, Flamingoes and frogs, Fluff, Freakytits - Freeform, Happy Ending, Mamma!Joan, Protective!Joan, Soft!Joan, Tash hurts herself at the park, Vera worries, and bright pink casts, with dinosaur shaped nuggets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:27:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27563029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCreatorOfTales/pseuds/TheCreatorOfTales
Summary: Tasha ends up in the hospital after taking a tumble in the park with Charlie and their childminder, Maisie.Bridget Westfall just happens to be there too.
Relationships: Vera Bennett & Joan Ferguson, Vera Bennett/Joan Ferguson
Series: The Governor's Family [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956403
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	An Unexpected Injury

It was lucky that Joan’s phone rang as she was preparing to go out of her office to check on the yard, where Vera was currently overlooking.

The shrill tone shrieked across the room, making Joan swivel on her heels to yank open the locker that she kept it in.

Maisie’s name flashed across the screen and she quickly pressed the green button to answer it.

“Maisie, what’s the matter?”

“Hi, Joan. Listen, I’m really sorry but we’ve had to bring Tash to the hospital. She fell off the see-saw and they think she might have at least fractured her wrist.” Maisie’s tone was apologetic, but matter of fact. She knew that Joan didn’t appreciate blathering or dithering, much preferring facts. In the background, Joan could hear the little four year old girl howling that she wanted her Aunty Jo, and she wanted her _now._

She also heard Charlie’s answer stating that she was busy and that she thought that the doctors would cut Natasha’s hand off, _and how cool would a metal hand be?!_

“I’m on my way. You’re in Royal Melbourne, I assume.”

“Yes, we’re in the emergency department, they’ve already taken us through the triage to a cubicle.”

“Alright. Do me one favour, Maisie. Get Charlotte to stop scaring her sister with horror stories about losing limbs.”

“You got it. See you when you get here.”

Immediately, she grabs her handbag, and then picks up the radio to let Vera know that she would need to leave. Within two minutes the curly haired woman has burst through the door, wild eyed and slightly panicked. 

“What’s happened!?” Vera knew perfectly well that only one thing would make Joan leave early. Their girls.

“Tasha might have broken her wrist at the park.” Joan shrugs as she shoves her mobile into the handbag and finds her car keys. “We’re lucky she’s gone this long without ending up in the hospital since she came to me. Remember Charlie’s four stitches in her forehead?”

“Jesus, I’m surprised Charlie isn’t there more often, the way she dives off things.” Vera smiles, thinking back at the antics of the little girl. “I finish in two hours, but you’ll likely still be stuck at the hospital so I’ll make sure dinner is ready for when you get back. I’ll cook Tasha’s favourites for her.”

“I love you. More than you know.” Joan says gratefully and leans forward to catch Vera’s smiling lips with her own. Vera tugs on her tie playfully, and Joan kisses her forehead and gathers her handbag. “I’ll see you at home.”

She leaves Vera in her office, knowing the woman will take care of things and keep everything in line.

Whilst Joan is fighting with rush hour traffic to get from Wentworth to the hospital, a little girl with a ponytail is sat in a hospital bed and cradling her left hand, in obvious pain. The denim dungarees she wears are covered in dust and grass stains, as well as the white t-shirt decorated with pink flamingos. She has a bruise on her forehead where her head had met the floor after both she and Charlie had been a tad too exuberant on the see-saw and Tasha had flown off, hitting the metal handlebars on her way down. 

The little girl’s bottom lip wobbles again.

Their childminder, Maisie is a petite woman with blonde hair and is always cheery. She notices the wobbly mouth and leans forward to stroke her head.

“It’s alright tiny, your Aunty Jo is on the way. She wont be long.” She smiles reassuringly at her as she continues to stroke her hair.

While Tasha thinks the world of Maisie, right now, Maisie isn’t who she wants. She wants Jo. Her Aunty Joan would know how to make her hand stop hurting and would bring her onto her lap and hold her tight and whisper that she would be fine and then _Joan would make it all okay._ That’s what her aunt did.

Her bottom lip continues to quiver, despite Maisie’s best efforts.

Tasha doesn’t like the nurse that’s ushered them in here, no matter how cool her pyjamas are. At least she thinks that the nurse was wearing pyjamas. They looked like pyjamas. She _really_ doesn’t like the grumpy old man that wore a white coat and poked her hand until she whined and yelled at him for hurting her.

She feels a presence climbing onto the bed next to her and she doesn’t need to look to know its Charlie. The two sit together, Charlie being very careful to not jostle her sister, or touch the wrist that is beginning to swell.

Maisie offers them both books, colouring books and puzzles. Neither take them, and eventually Maisie recognises that her charges will be this way until their aunt arrives.

Charlie looks at her sister’s face.

“Your clip got broken, Tash.” The more rambunctious twin says, spotting the glittery flamingo in her hair that is somehow still clinging to the strands, despite the plastic ornament attached to the metal clip being snapped in half.

This little piece of information makes Tasha’s bottom lip quiver even more, and the dam finally breaks, causing fat tears to roll down the girl’s cheeks in rivulets, dripping onto her arms and onto Charlie. 

“It’s my FAVOURITE CLIP!” She howls, having had enough. “My arm hurts! And Aunty Jo _still isn’t here!_ We’ve been waiting for yeeeeeears!”

Nothing Charlie does can comfort her sister. Maisie has no success either. Two nurses offer their support but quickly find that they aren’t what Tasha wants. Previous experience with four year olds in pain tells them that the meltdown will run its course, or their aunt will appear and nip it in the bud with her arrival.

It doesn’t stop the woman in the cubicle next door from trying though.

She looks pretty, Charlie supposes. But she’s very sharp looking, like she doesn’t eat enough. Maybe she needs more sweets, the little girl thinks. She’s holding her hand like Tash is, maybe she fell off a see-saw too?

“I’m sure that they’ll be able to fix your clip, sweetie.” The stranger smiles at them from her bed, trying to reassure her. Tash is still sniffing and crying, not answering the woman and Charlie gets a little worried because Aunty Jo taught them that ignoring people on purpose is rude and Jo taught them to be polite!

“They can use Sellotape!” Charlie tries to reassure her sister, and the woman smiles wider.

“Or even glue! And you’ll never know it got broken.” She nods, and beams when she sees Tash look at her from the corner of her eye.

“What you do?” Tash asks, quietly, and when Bridget asks her to repeat herself louder, Charlie is the one who repeats the question, tugging at the cuff of her long sleeved top with frogs and stripes all over it.

“I fell over when I was leaving work.” When Charlie asks what she does for work, she explains as best she can to a four year old.

“You fix people’s brains?!” Tasha asks, shocked. Bridget is too busy smiling and trying not to laugh, so she doesn’t hear the familiar sound of the heels that usually echo through Wentworth’s corridors.

“She certainly tries.” Bridget’s mouth falls open in shock as the woman who usually is a thorn in her side appears at the foot of Tasha’s bed. The two didn’t see eye to eye, and Bridget privately thought that perhaps she would find out a lot more about the Governor if she was allowed to have her as a patient. As it was, she thought her unfeeling, cold and unempathetic in the extreme from what she’d seen in Wentworth.

The twins yell at the appearance of the woman, Charlie nearly bouncing off the bed and jostling Tasha, causing the little girl to yelp and hold her wrist closer to her middle in an attempt to protect it. Bridget watches Joan’s face soften as she drops her handbag on the chair next to Maisie, who is already packing her stuff now that Joan has arrived to take over.

“Thank you, Maisie. I appreciate you trying to keep them occupied. I’ll probably keep the both of them home with me the rest of the week.”

Home with her? Bridget didn’t understand why the Governor would have the two adorable girls with her if she was their aunt. Surely their parents should be the ones to take care of them? Matter of fact, why hadn’t the parents been called? Maybe they had, and they sent the Governor in their place.

The blonde childminder nods, understanding where the older woman is coming from. Tasha would be in considerable pain for at least the next few days and wherever Tasha went, Charlie wasn’t too far behind usually.

“No problem, text me an update over the weekend and I’ll maybe see you guys Monday?” After updating Joan on how much had been done for Tasha so far by the medical staff, she hauls her bag onto her shoulder and turns to the girls sat on the bed. 

Maisie gives the two big hugs and kisses on the forehead which Charlie rubs furiously once the woman’s back is turned as she leaves with a friendly wave and calls goodbye.

Joan has dropped her coat on top of her bag and moves towards the bed, and gently sits, leaning forward to ruffle Charlie’s hair, making curly strands frizz up out of the loose braid that no doubt has occurred from all the commotion. Tash relaxes more now that the older woman is here, Bridget notices and the little girl is willing to let her aunt look at her wrist, gingerly extending the arm when Joan opens her hand and gently coaxes her.

Tasha’s bottom lip quivers again, and Joan sighs gently.

“Charlie, shift.” She shoos the little girl further down the bed so that she can take her place, the mischievous twin doing so without complaint.

Carefully, Joan manoeuvres so that Tasha is leaning against her, at the top of the bed, using the pillows to support the both of them. The little girls still has her injured arm held tightly against her little body and the woman winds her arm around her, allowing the little girl to bury her head into her chest as she rubs her hair in circular patterns, just the way she knows that Tash likes it.

“Whatever will we do with you, hmm?” Bridget has to strain her ears, but she can make out what Joan is saying to the girl, and it’s nothing as she expects. “Usually Charlie is the one that hurts herself. What happened?”

Between the two, Joan can understand what’s happened. Both girls, wanting to go higher on the see-saw did not account for the fact that the ground can come up very quickly and the resulting force when Charlie had gone down on the contraption had caused her sister to lose her grip on the handle and go flying.

“The doctor man is mean.” Tasha whispers to Joan, making her eyebrows shoot up.

“Why is he mean, darling?”

“He poked it.” Tash answers, biting her lip.

“He made her yell.” Charlie pipes in, nodding her head sagely, as if telling Joan the secret to the world.

Joan sits there, reassuring both nieces, as Charlie eventually gets bored, and when the woman stretches out her legs on the bed, the girl lies down and settles her head on her calf, falling into a light doze as they wait for the nurse to transport them to the X-ray.

Tasha doesn’t sleep, but she does calm considerably. Bridget has gone back to her book, shaken at the gentleness that the Governor shows to the little girls and then feels a little guilty over that. She remembers Franky mentioning a little girl getting into the unit in passing, but she never mentioned that it was Ferguson’s niece. She glances out of the side of her eye and watches as the black-haired woman gently rocks her niece, rubbing her hair and reassuring her that no, they wouldn’t cut her hand off, the worst that would happen is that she would need to get a cast. And that she was sure that the doctor would let her pick the colour.

“The lady over there was nice.” Tasha mumbles into Joan’s jacket.

“Hm, I’m sure she was, darling.”

Bridget looks over and catches the Governor’s eye. The woman is looking at her with an odd look.

“Thank you for entertaining my nieces for a little bit, Miss Westfall.” Bridget lets her book drop to her lap, unsure of how to respond.

“It was no problem, Governor, I hope your niece will be alright.” Bridget eventually answers, and then she finds that curiosity removes any filter she might have had from her mouth. “Can I ask, where are their parents? Why haven’t they come to make sure she’s alright?”

Joan sighs through her nose, checking down to make sure both girls are alright. Tasha is slightly dozing and Charlie is drooling on her work trousers in her sleep, clutching at the fabric to make sure that Joan doesn’t go anywhere.

“I think their parents would have trouble coming to see them, considering they reside in a cemetery in Northern Ireland.”

Bridget startles, not expecting the answer. She was expecting absentee parents, perhaps, but not this.

“Really? That’s terrible for them.”

“Hm, it was terrible for me when they died, considering that their mother was my sister.”

“I’m sorry, Governor.” Bridget really didn’t know what else to say. “I had no idea.”

“That is done deliberately.” Joan adjusts the little girl in her arms. “It’s a potential risk to these two and their older sister if its widely known that they are mine. You’ve seen the women in Wentworth. Whilst some have human decency, there is plenty of them that don’t.”

Bridget had to concede the woman’s point. She was warned when she first started by Vera to not disclose a lot of personal information to the women as some would use it to their advantage. She’d seen Franky use some of other womens’ vulnerabilities against them when she wanted something, so she can understand the need to keep the children safe.

“I am well aware of what you think of me, Miss Westfall. Would it shock you to know that it is a front, for the workplace? I used to be like that throughout every facet of my life, but then these two and their sister came crashing into my life and they helped. So much.” She leans down to place a kiss on Tasha’s hair. Bridget feels guilty for assuming so much of the woman when she didn’t really know her. Nor had she made the effort to.

“I’m sorry, Governor.”

“Hm, my point is that you shouldn’t assume. Your degrees and fancy qualifications are all well and good but you need to use them effectively. That includes being able to read between the lines in some cases.” The words aren’t malicious, but they are true and both women know it. Bridget does notice that the Governor didn’t formally accept the apology, but lets it go, knowing when to pick her battles.

Joan sighs and uses her free hand to pull the hairpins from her bun, one by one. She shakes out her hair, sighing as the pressure in her head eases once her hair is flowing around her shoulders. Having her hair down makes her look…softer, Bridget thinks and then understands very quickly why the woman wears it in such a severe hairstyle.

The nurse pokes her head around the cubicle curtain, smiling as she sees the little girls sleeping. She informs them that the X-Ray room is ready for them. Joan shimmies her leg to make Charlie wake up, and she does, sitting up and yawning, with sleep wrinkle on her cheek from the leg seam in Joan’s trousers. Carefully, the woman moves off the bed, having some difficulty as Tash refuses to let go of her grip on Joan’s work jacket.

Bridget watches as the woman swings the little girl up into her arms without so much as a heavy breath. She holds her free hand out to Charlie who immediately clutches at her fingers, slipping the much smaller hand into the larger. The nurse informs them that they’ll be coming back to this cubicle, so Joan simply asks Charlie to grab her phone and her purse from her handbag and the trio is then leaving, following the nurse with a nod from Joan and a small wave from Charlie.

Bridget sits and thinks over what she’s learnt today.

When Bridget next sees the trio, Tasha has a bright pink cast on her arm, and her sister is poking it in fascination. The woman stays quiet as she can hear the doctor giving the Governor the prescription for children’s ibuprofen for Tasha, and giving them instructions not to get the cast wet. With a small wave at the two girls, the brunette doctor leaves to attend her other patients, and Joan begins to gather the girl’s things, grabbing both little backpacks by the top straps in one hand, and making sure that her purse and phone are back in her handbag.

Carefully, she manouvers Tasha’s arm into the sleeve of her coat, and then clicks the fasteners closed. Whilst the woman is doing the same for Charlie, the little girl grabbed the backpack with glittery flamingos and hoisted it up her arms, fidgeting until it fell into place on her back. Their aunt silently helps Charlie do the same with her bag.

By the time the nurse appears with discharge papers for Joan to sign, she’s also wearing her coat. Taking the spare discharge note, which she folds and carefully places in her handbag, she grasps Charlie’s hand in her right hand and Tasha grabs onto her left.

“Miss Westfall, if you need time off because of any injury from your fall, let me know and I’ll arrange the medical leave for you.” Joan nods at her, making Bridget smile gratefully and nod back. The two would never see eye to eye on everything, but a truce formed over a little girl’s broken wrist would be enough to stop them causing friction for each other in their workplace.

“Thank you, I’ll let you know if that’s the case.”

Joan nods, and the two girls give big grins and waves as the woman leads them out of the cubicle.

Bridget can hear them as they walk away, and she recognises the two girls asking if their Aunty Vee was really making nuggets because Tash hurt her arm and she can hear the Governor’s response of yes, she is and _Charlie don’t you dare think about breaking your own arm to get nuggets._

Bridget has to laugh, looks like there was another Aunty to keep an eye on the pair too.

She had no idea who ‘Vee’ was, and it was likely that she would never find out.

All the same, she thought the girls were being raised quite well.

She might talk to Franky about this whole incident though, the next time she saw her.

Vera is waiting at the door when they pull into the driveway, a worried look on her face. She’s changed into a light pink summer-dress and she’s let her hair down. Her feet are bare, but she doesn’t let that stop her as she steps out onto the front step, crouching down to catch Charlie as the little girl slams into her for a hug, shouting that the doctors nearly cut her twin’s arm off because she broke it.

Joan helps Tash out of the car, the new cast needing some getting used to and feeling bulky to the little girl. She grabs the backpacks and her own handbag before shutting the door, clicking the button on the carkeys to lock the vehicle.

By the time Joan reaches the front step, Vera is still crouched and squeezing Tasha in comfort, and promising that her nuggets just needed to finish cooking and she could have them. The little girl planted a wet kiss on the woman’s cheek and then meandered inside, yanking at the raincoat to make the poppers open and shedding the annoying piece of clothing.

Joan held out her free hand for Vera to use to get back to her feet and the shorter woman stood on her toes and pressed a gentle kiss to the other woman’s mouth. Joan wound her arm around Vera’s waist pulling her closer with a gentle grip, deepening the kiss before pulling away and rubbing the tip of her nose against the curly haired woman’s.

“You were serious about the nuggets then?” She whispers, grimacing in distaste. Vera giggles a little, and presses a kiss to the woman’s cheek and grabbing the two backpacks from her partner.

“I’ve got hunter’s chicken for us, don’t panic. No dinosaur shaped nuggets for you.” She grins and steps back into the house to hang the backpacks on the two hooks reserved for the twins. Joan follows her and kicks off her shoes, putting them into the shoe-basket, where the both twin’s shoes had also been flung, as well as Cara’s school shoes.

Joan sheds her coat and jacket without hesitation, hanging both on the hook. She quickly unties the tie around her neck and opens three buttons of her shirt, feeling better and more relaxed immediately. Vera’s eyes dart down to the collarbones and smooth neck that’s been exposed and she licks her lips.

Together they walk into the kitchen and Joan fills the kettle to make them both some tea whilst the food finishes cooking.

Cara, her hair still in its ponytail from school prances in, still in her uniform. In her hand she holds her test about the solar system, a bright green ‘A+’ emblazoned on the top of the page. She skids to a stop next to the older woman, who’s already holding her arm out to let the nine year old fling herself into her side as she stirs the mugs of tea.

“So beastie, did you do good?” She asks, turning to look at her. The nine year old is practically vibrating in excitement, as she nods.

“YEP!” She bounces in place. “I got an A!” She holds up the paper in excitement to show her achievement.

Joan grips the paper and gently pries it from the overexcited hand of her oldest niece. She smiles and then places a tender kiss on the girl’s head.

“I’m very proud of you. I know how hard you studied for it.” Joan hugs her tight. “And you know where to put it.”

The girl nods again, taking the paper and sprints to the refrigerator that is covered in the achievements of all three girls, from pictures of karate, fencing and ballet classes, to test results and book reports held to the metal with frog and flamingo magnets. Cara digs through the little box of assorted magnets on the worktop, and finds the glittery book shaped one, slamming it on the fridge with a victorious look on her face.

Vera comes behind her and hugs her too, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “You know what that means, don’t you?” She asks, making the little girl turn her head up to look at her, a wide grin on her face.

“Looks like you’ve earned your new goldfish, beastie.” Joan says, sipping her tea, waiting for the excited squeal that she knows is coming.

“REALLY?!” She’s sprinted out of the room at this point, thundering up the stairs, shouting for the twins and telling them that they’re getting the fish.

Vera moves to stand next to Joan, lifting her own mug to her mouth, as the two grin at each other and then start to laugh as the house fills with the sound of excited squealing and shouting of their girls.

They lean against each other, Joan resting her head on top of Vera’s as the shorter woman has her cheek on Joan’s shoulder.

Life was good.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and Comments keep me going!
> 
> Thank you! <3


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